Turin Olympics to set audience record for Winter Games 28/1/2006 11:08

The 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin will break the audience record for Winter
Olympic Games with more than 3 billion people watching the Games on television,
Italian News Agency ANSA said in Rome on Friday.

According to a report from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the
number of audience is up 5 percent from the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake
City.

The viewers of the Turin Olympics will increase thanks to the major global TV
coverage with 200 countries broadcasting the Games compared to 160 countries
where the population could watch the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.

The African countries which will show the Turin Olympics will be 40 against
two in 2002.

Broadcasters all over the world will dedicate more than 13,000 hours to
Olympic coverage.

Italian state television RAI will broadcast a total 244 hours from the
Olympic Games.

Compared to the Salt Lake City Olympics, the coverage of the Turin Games will
increase by 111 percent in China, by 563 percent in Britain and by 12 percent in
the United States where the NBC television network has planned 416 hours of
coverage, which will exceed the hours of broadcasting of the Salt Lake Olympics
held on home soil.

For the first time in the history of the Olympics the audience in some 20
countries will be able to watch the Turin Games on the latest generation mobile
phones.